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Kim and Grandma Gail kick off the new year by reflecting on five years of Excuse My Grandma and the idea that change is possible at any age. After time in Florida and a return to New York for an exciting new (still secret) project, they share life updates including apartment hunting, evolving routines, and generational differences around work, home, and “settling.”The conversation moves into New Year reflections, revisiting old passions, embracing change, and knowing when not to fix what isn’t broken. In Ask Grandma Anything, they answer listener questions on relationships, gift-giving, Palm Beach style, and whether it’s ever too late to start over. In The Grandma Report, they discuss a Vogue article exploring new research suggesting the brain may not fully mature until age 32, sparking a lively debate about adulthood, habits, and personal growth.Follow us onInstagram @excusemygrandma @kimmursteinTikTok @excusemygrandma and @excusemygrandmapod Watch on YouTubeSpotify00:00: Introduction 22:39: The Rewind27:23: The Drama Club34:04: Ask Grandma Anything38:51: Grandma Gail’s Voicemail41:26: The Grandma Report
Kim and Grandma Gail kick off the new year by reflecting on five years of Excuse My Grandma and the idea that change is possible at any age. After time in Florida and a return to New York for an exciting new (still secret) project, they share life updates including apartment hunting, evolving routines, and generational differences around work, home, and “settling.”
The conversation moves into New Year reflections, revisiting old passions, embracing change, and knowing when not to fix what isn’t broken. In Ask Grandma Anything, they answer listener questions on relationships, gift-giving, Palm Beach style, and whether it’s ever too late to start over. In The Grandma Report, they discuss a Vogue article exploring new research suggesting the brain may not fully mature until age 32, sparking a lively debate about adulthood, habits, and personal growth.
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00:00: Introduction
22:39: The Rewind
27:23: The Drama Club
34:04: Ask Grandma Anything
38:51: Grandma Gail’s Voicemail
41:26: The Grandma Report
Grandma Gail is full of wisdom... even if Kim doesn't always take it to heart. Every week, the granddaughter/grandmother duo share stories, chat about their lives, discuss pop culture, and unpack the generational differences of dating, sex, relationships, and more. Listen on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the show in full on YouTube and follow @excusemygrandma on TikTok and Instagram to keep tabs on what’s happening in their lives between episodes.
Inquiries: team@excusemygrandma.com.
Welcome back to another episode of Excuse My Grandma. It's Kim and my cohost.
Speaker 2:Grandma Gail.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I forget, like, our intro, but it's so ingrained in my mind that I just spew it out. We've done it now for five years, so I better know it.
Speaker 2:You better know it by heart at this point.
Speaker 1:I wonder if I looked back at episode one, did we do the exact same intro?
Speaker 2:I think we did.
Speaker 1:I think we did. If not, then it's very it's very different.
Speaker 2:I don't know what different we look. To me, we look exactly the same, but people say, oh, Kimiya's gotten so different looking and you look yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't know. I guess five years young from from 25 to 30, you look different.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think people see different hairstyles. With me, it's the same hairstyle. Maybe with you, it's a little different. I don't think I look the same. I think I got a few more wrinkles.
Speaker 2:But anyway, we're having fun doing this and it is our fifth year. So this is amazing.
Speaker 1:So crazy. And I was thinking like, how do we freshen things up and same thing with like the new year. I'm like, can we like change some things? And I was like, no. I'm set in my ways.
Speaker 1:But then at the same time, no. I feel like you can at any age, you can change things up, try something new. That's true. Try that old hobby that you've been wanting to try your whole life.
Speaker 2:Like a book that you haven't read. Are lots of things that you can do for the new year. But if you have a good thing, don't don't change it too much because some you know, what there's a saying, you know, don't fix it if it's, if it's not broken. So, you have to be a little careful. We have to go slowly in what we wanna modify.
Speaker 1:Right. And even though sometimes there's pressure to be at a certain point at a certain time, like people are always evolving and can always pivot because you're always, like, learning new things. So I hope so. So we're gonna talk a little bit more, I feel like, about that with and, like, the new year and that, like, freedom that also comes from believing in that and that you can do anything at any time, I think. But before we get into that, wanted to do some current life updates, which a lot of you who follow us already probably have seen some of this.
Speaker 1:Also, you don't follow us or excuse my grandma on Instagram and TikTok and Facebook and YouTube. And my personal is Kimmerstein. So definitely make sure you're following on there. Grandma, you know, well, we've been in Florida for a while, by the way. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It was beautiful. We had a wonderful holiday time with family and and the weather really was good except for New Year's weekend where it was really got to be in the low forties. So that was that was cold, for Florida standards, not for, the Northeast or but for Florida, it was a little nippy. We were all wearing coats for New Year's.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But those of you who are watching, we are in our New York City studio Right. Because we came back to New York to work on a really new exciting project that everyone's going to know about very soon. So we thought we would be in the podcast studio in the meantime, but we are not allowed to tell anyone yet.
Speaker 2:Okay. It's a secret. We'll we'll we'll tell you when it's the correct time.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I will say we did our first, shoot for this project yesterday and it was a long day. And grandma, you did you did great.
Speaker 2:I did alright. I think I started fizzling after four. I did start fizzling, but it was great fun. I loved it and I loved the people we were working with.
Speaker 1:Great. Really terrific. All wanted to, like, gossip with you.
Speaker 2:I know they did. I have a new best friend over there. Yeah. I heard. I think I'm ditching you and I'm gonna hang out.
Speaker 2:Oh,
Speaker 1:no. Yeah. You we had a a really fun day and it was just like a great opportunity and to work with people who are really invested in us and really, like, smart and creative. No. We were ten minutes late.
Speaker 2:No. We weren't. I think we were exactly on time.
Speaker 1:I think I think on time from now on for me, I think it should be early.
Speaker 3:Well, you you can't we were ten
Speaker 2:minutes late. I can right. And and you know what? I didn't being back in the city, I didn't know what to expect with the traffic. But, actually, I have to say, I thought the traffic right now, maybe it's because everybody is stuck in some Caribbean island somewhere, which we're also gonna talk about.
Speaker 2:But I think, basically, the traffic was was fine in New York. I got uptown downtown twice yesterday in really record breaking time. I was very excited. Because sometimes you just sit in traffic. You I don't know.
Speaker 2:You said you had more traffic. I had not.
Speaker 1:Well, I came uptown today before we came back downtown for a podcast recording, and I definitely had some traffic slash it took the same amount of time. I have been looking for an apartment in New York City. As you guys know, I'm moving in with my boyfriend. So we're doing the apartment search, which is just, like, not easy at all. It's not easy.
Speaker 1:It's not easy finding places to live in New York within a budget that you wanna spend. It's very difficult. Some places, I'm like, the elevator is too slow. Right. Some places, I'm like, oh, it's good, but I don't like the location.
Speaker 1:But I think that's so fair to have what you're gonna live there. Like, why would you settle?
Speaker 2:You don't have to settle, but I think this is not your forever home. It is you don't own it. So therefore, you're gonna have to make some kind of accommodations. It's just part of what life is. There's no one place that could be perfect.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm looking I think that's a little bit of a generational difference because people now, like, they spend so much time in their apartment. That is a difference. We are, like, sometime I mean, I'm always, like, working from home unless I'm going to meet you or or have a meeting or whatever. And then, like, people stay in during the week at night if you like, you go out for dinner almost every night. Like, people like to cook at home.
Speaker 1:Like, I wanna do more of that. Like, you spend a lot of time in your apartment. And even if it's a year or two years, whatever, like It
Speaker 2:should be nice. It should be nice, but it can't be you know, this is the old thing even with relationships. Nothing is perfect. So, you know, sometimes if the bathrooms are important to have, you know, the right kind of bathrooms or the right kind of counter space, because that's the one thing in your apartment which you're in now, which is a lovely apartment. It's a newish building, has terrible counter space near the sinks.
Speaker 2:So and you have all
Speaker 1:the makeup My and my bar is very low, though. Like, I'm not saying I need the perfect counter space and I need a like, I'm asking for, like, very normal things, like a doorman and
Speaker 2:Well, that's not normal.
Speaker 1:Like being above the 2nd Floor. Like, literally, that's it.
Speaker 2:Alright. Well, so there'll be something. You just have to have patience.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And it's a fun little project to have, but I don't feel like I'm making progress on it yet. So far, I've kind of been seeing when Zach was in town, we walked around a few neighborhoods and would, like, pop into a building to see if they had availability, but that honestly doesn't work. It just has to be what's on online. So I've kind of taken a lead on this.
Speaker 1:I feel like of
Speaker 2:No. No. You still add.
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Speaker 2:Town. So I think that's correct.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Like visiting things when I can and talking to the brokers, which I'm kind of fine with because then I can also control the situation.
Speaker 2:I think you could also weed out the stuff that, you know, you're not gonna show me.
Speaker 1:I also know New York City better than he does, even though he's lived here. I'm I've been here for thirty years. So it's like, I know what's a, like, area I like and what's one that I don't like. And Okay. So, you know, that's the plan right now.
Speaker 1:I I'm between, like, five different areas. I'm not even that picky with that. Obviously, there's a million different areas, but thinking I'm gonna stay in Manhattan. And, yeah, we're
Speaker 2:And you're on a search. It's it's a search.
Speaker 1:A search.
Speaker 2:So if anybody has any good suggestions, text Kimball. You email her.
Speaker 1:Oh, you can DM me on Instagram. But the rents are also just ridiculously high even for things that aren't that fabulous. What was the rent when you were looking for your first apartment?
Speaker 2:Well, it's very old now. And now you're talking about sixty two years ago. We lived, in a one bedroom. I'll never forget Poppy's, the closet door that he had were foldables. You know, what do they call bifold?
Speaker 2:So he couldn't put his suits because everybody wore suits to go to work in those days. He couldn't put his suits straight in. He had to angle them because he couldn't close the closet door.
Speaker 3:Wait. Is it my closet like that?
Speaker 1:In my current apartment, my
Speaker 2:closet your closet is but yours is much deeper than Poppy's was. So I think we paid but we got two months free rent. I think we paid like a little under maybe after the two months free rent, paid like 175 a month, that was very What expensive in 1960
Speaker 1:do think that would be today?
Speaker 2:Oh, probably 5,000. And we were in a very I loved it, we were on the Upper East Side is where I, cause I never grew up in the city and I fell in love with the area where I was. And I basically, for the beginning of our marriage, the two apartments we were, one was on 75th and one was on 72nd And 72nd was actually my favorite location. It had everything there, and it's a very wide street. And it was just a a very cute neighborhood.
Speaker 2:It had a wonderful hardware store that's long gone. It had a movie theater, which was in Tower East, which we used to go to all the time. You know, all the city has changed over the years. So what you liked twenty years ago is no longer relevant today. So you have to look at each neighborhood and see what, as long as you have little, coffee shops, a little market, cleaners.
Speaker 2:Local spots. Local shops in your neighborhood, wherever you are, which most neighborhoods have it.
Speaker 1:No. But I never really found that in my current I've been in my place for five years.
Speaker 2:Don't definitely have them. You're just not adventuresome enough. I they're I know that they're little well, yeah, I think they're loads of little your area is much cuter
Speaker 1:than most adventuresome.
Speaker 2:Because I don't think that I think you're always on Instacart, you and your mother. And and you you Well, I don't think also have
Speaker 1:the market. Well, I know
Speaker 2:where it is. I know, but you also buy it. Don't go to it. You know? Well, I used to go to the drugstore.
Speaker 2:I used to go to the market. All that's now online, so you don't do it anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you have coffee shops in your area, but less. Think the life of the coffee shop has sort of left Manhattan because it's too expensive for the owners of these places. They can't afford selling a sandwich When or an
Speaker 1:you think of coffee shop, I think you're thinking of diner. And when we refer to coffee shop, we're just referring to literally all they have is coffee and maybe like, Oh, well, that's they didn't have
Speaker 2:that in the sixties. Yeah. So funny. Coffee became a revolution much later.
Speaker 1:Because what you couldn't go and grab an iced coffee and like plastic cup and walk around. Could you? No, nobody did that. And that's like one of the best parts of life.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That that's become an activity. It's absolutely every young person walks around with the, iced coffee.
Speaker 1:I wonder why they didn't have that to go.
Speaker 2:We just didn't have the to go's. You used to sit at a restaurant and sit down or a coffee shop.
Speaker 1:Did people have more time?
Speaker 2:I don't think they had more time. They just, it wasn't a constant coffee drinking life. You had coffee in the morning or in your office, and then that was it. It wasn't really now you have coffee all day long, twenty four hours.
Speaker 1:And there's, like, flavor.
Speaker 2:Maybe that's why everybody's very nervous.
Speaker 1:No. I think they drink coffee because they're nervous. Like, they drink coffee too.
Speaker 2:Well, it doesn't calm you, Kim.
Speaker 1:Well, it doesn't calm you, but I'm like, you to get through the day.
Speaker 2:Well, that makes you because it it activates you. Right. I feel
Speaker 1:like it helps if you're in a bad mood and then you have a coffee with, like, brown sugar, like, flavor or what whatever. Like, it's
Speaker 2:It helps you? It helps.
Speaker 1:Whatever whatever works. Like an iced strawberry matcha helps my depression.
Speaker 2:Oh lord. I think that's repulsive. But okay.
Speaker 1:It's so good. And also, were there neighborhoods that were more popular? Like for Oh, absolutely. Like besides the Upper East Side, what was your other option?
Speaker 2:Well, I love the Upper West Side. I I love the Upper West Side. I still do. I think it's so the near the museum of natural history. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Those buildings are iconic buildings in New York. And my grandmother lived on 1 On 72nd that really was still is one of the most beautiful buildings. You know, New York has a variety of things. As you go further west towards the Hudson River, the apartments are beautiful and big. There's more activity.
Speaker 2:Was
Speaker 1:a luxury natural light or no one cared about that either.
Speaker 2:Anybody we didn't have those big windows in most of the buildings like you have in the contemporary buildings today. You know, they were smaller windows. The rooms were bigger because, you know, they didn't waste it on, you didn't have to pay for amenities. There was no such thing as a rooftop garden and a meditation room and a gym and all that. You know, it just wasn't, that wasn't around.
Speaker 2:No building had it. So, that's where a lot of the money goes today when you ask why the rents are so high because the landlord has to pay for all those extras. I mean, and nothing is for nothing. You know? I'm laughing.
Speaker 2:You don't get anything. There's no free rides in the world, so you have to pay for it.
Speaker 1:Sometimes there's a free month on an apartment building.
Speaker 2:I don't know. Are they still I don't know.
Speaker 1:Well, that was a deals in certain situations.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think when they overbuilt back
Speaker 1:They can't sell. Yeah. If they can't sell rent it
Speaker 2:out, I mean. But it's hard to find those.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Because they would rather give it to somebody with that than have it sit empty and totally lose money.
Speaker 2:I would certainly hope so.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I'm learning a lot about the rental market.
Speaker 2:Oh, you always go into the real estate business.
Speaker 1:Think I'm too busy. I feel like I have so even as we're talking about, like, twenty twenty six goals, like, I feel like there's so many things on my mind that the real estate project, like, is probably at bottom. Okay. Even though I love real estate and I like looking for myself, I feel like I can just look through, like, architectural digest and get my fix.
Speaker 2:And that's the other thing. When you're moving, I think you also have to think about how you wanna design that for two people versus one people. Like, you need to have a second bureau or a bigger bureau. You know, all those things so you really have to look through the magazines and look through, go to the different, places where they have furniture, available to look at. Even Bloomingdale's or Macy's, they all have department stores with furniture, and it's fun to take a peek with your boyfriend and, see your different tastes because, you know, a first apartment together is always a mixing of styles.
Speaker 2:Right. It might not be the style you want in five years from now, but right now it has to fit your needs.
Speaker 1:Right. Also, are there any, like, new hobbies you're gonna start this year?
Speaker 3:Well, I don't think I
Speaker 2:have any more time for new hobbies. I'm taking up mahjong again. I have taken up mahjong again, which I played twenty five years ago, and I loved it. I have maybe six margin sets. I think something happened.
Speaker 2:I went to a flea market with some friends years ago that was in West Palm Beach, and we bought all these sets for, like, $30, and I have different colors and whatever. So I I've given one to my daughter-in-law, one I have out in the Hamptons, one I have in the out in in Florida. So we I am but I do must say I like the mahjong that has the white tiles. When they have the colors, I find it a little distracting.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But, anyway, we're playing again, and it's getting very trendy. Everybody's playing. Everybody's taking lessons where I am and which is fun. I mean, it's an easy it's sort of like looking at a gin hand. There are sequences.
Speaker 2:And if you are a card player, you should be able to see it after a while. It's not that difficult.
Speaker 1:Plus you have the card in So front of if you guys remember, I had my friends over once and we did a lesson. Tonight, I'm having my girlfriends over
Speaker 2:Oh, cool.
Speaker 1:Again with an instructor who's great, and we're gonna do lesson number two. Yep. I found it, like, really hard to follow, but I feel like after a few times, maybe it'll lessons. It closed. So I'm excited for that tonight.
Speaker 1:It's fun to host every time.
Speaker 2:Always fun to be with your friends, and it it's a fun game to play.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Why do you think it's having a research?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I think somebody must have put it on Instagram, and now everybody's doing it again. Young people, old people. It's, it's like nothing, is old again. It's like nothing is new.
Speaker 2:It's all re recycling and it's a fun thing to do. You know, you don't wanna be left out when everybody says you wanna play cards. You want to be able to play all the games, Kim.
Speaker 1:Well, that's, yeah, your group. Like my friends don't really say that to each other.
Speaker 2:They're working. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But this is like definitely a new thing that I feel like we realize we do want to know just maybe in case it becomes
Speaker 2:Well, I also think sometimes now young mothers wanna get together at night or people who are, as they get older, they have a little more free time in the evening when maybe they're putting their kids to sleep and they wanna just Yeah, chill out
Speaker 1:with with my friends, only, like, one of them has a baby. So all the other ones
Speaker 2:But they'll all catch up. So it'll all everybody will end up at the same boat.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But I'm saying we wanna learn now. Like, we're not talking about it like, oh, that's a good idea for Yeah. One Yeah. Alright.
Speaker 1:Because that for a lot of my friends, it's like, that's like five years away or whatever. So this is definitely just like something to play now, like, in even in your early twenties, like
Speaker 2:I don't think your early twenties anybody's gonna play.
Speaker 1:But I like ICP or mid twenties, whatever. Like, we're we're in our mid to late twenties, my friends. So, like, we're all, like, wanna they're very into it. I think one of the girls was so confused. She just went to the food station that I set up and just started eating in the middle because she was like, I can't I don't know.
Speaker 1:But it'll be fun to just, like, use it as an excuse to follow-up.
Speaker 2:To get to and the teacher should make it simple. There are ways of making the game simpler. It's it doesn't have to be that confusing. You don't have to know every single hand on the on the card. I think
Speaker 1:the main, like, reason that my friends are interested in mahjong is that it's just an activity for everyone to come together
Speaker 2:and It's hang Just
Speaker 1:an excuse to do that. A glass of wine. Yeah. And have a girls' night. So I went and got a wax earlier.
Speaker 2:It's more than I need to know.
Speaker 1:And I don't know if you know, my waxer who I've been with for literally twenty years, because I started when I was like 10, has retired.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. Tragedies will never happen. You'll have to find someone else.
Speaker 1:I know. Well, I'm gonna but like change is so hard sometimes. And I was thinking about it in that way. Like, this is someone I would go to consistently for that long.
Speaker 2:She has a right to move on
Speaker 1:with her life. And it's a very, like, physical job and she was older and, like, I I wish the best for her, but I'm like, I'm gonna miss my waxer. And also, like, it's it's crazy that things can just, like, change and you have to just adapt like that.
Speaker 2:And I was seeing This conversation is very sad.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm using it as a way to
Speaker 2:As an example.
Speaker 1:As an example of, like, a lot of people in an like new year, new wave of their life, like don't like change. But I feel like it's something that just, you
Speaker 2:know, you can You either change or you disappear. It's like the evolution of the species. You have to go on, you have to change to get better, to get stronger. You get older, you get wiser. And I think all people need to put a little bit of first of change is something that makes life exciting.
Speaker 2:If you're always doing the same thing all the time, with the same people, it could get a little boring. So, you know, it is sad when a when a person has been permanently in your in your life for all these years and you have to find somebody new for whatever reason. But you'll find somebody and then you'll say, oh my gosh, you're so wonderful. I I thank you for coming into my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And, like, you started a whole new career at 79. So, obviously, like, new things come up that you can always and things And come up a lot
Speaker 2:I think it's great fun. And I think it should be everybody should be open. That's exactly what I'm saying. I think people shouldn't be afraid of change. Even if sometimes it happens, because unfortunately, if somebody passes on and you have to move on, but I have, you know, a philosophy.
Speaker 2:Must look at life as a glass always full. Don't worry about it disappearing on you. Think about how you can make your life better and more complete and add to it. Whether it be through friendships, personal relationships, what you're doing, travel, reading, taking on a new hobby. It's all things that make you grow.
Speaker 2:And, I think that that's a great thing. And for the new year, I think I'm going to make a resolution. I'm going to join a book club because I have been letting that slide. I haven't been reading as much because you've gotten me so busy with everything else. I'm not reading enough the way I used to, and I really think I have to start that again.
Speaker 2:Have to get
Speaker 1:up to And you'll be reading at night?
Speaker 2:Well, in the afternoon I like to read, after I work. I find it very So that
Speaker 1:I'm not you don't see me in the afternoon anyway.
Speaker 2:Right. And maybe I'll cut it shorter with you and read if it's a very exciting book.
Speaker 1:Great. For me, I feel like I don't know if I'm gonna necessarily start new hobbies, but I want to start some things that are old passions of mine up again. Kind of like as you're saying with the reading, But like I used to write all the time. Yep. And I really enjoyed that.
Speaker 1:Like, you know, creative writing around maybe even like some TV writing and stuff. And I used to act all the time too. So I think bringing back some of those passions and hobbies, like, it's not too late to revamp that and go down that path.
Speaker 2:I think maybe time this might be the time you're gonna write a book on the rules.
Speaker 1:I I don't know if I'm gonna write a book because I don't know if I I don't know about But we'll see what medium it takes. I'm definitely more into like media and entertainment than like the publishing world. But you never know. Let's move on to the rewind. Tomorrow morning is knocking.
Speaker 1:Stock your fridge now. How about a creamy mocha frappuccino drink or a sweet vanilla? Smooth caramel maybe or a white chocolate mocha. Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks frappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries.
Speaker 3:Spring just slid into your DMs. Grab that boho look for that rooftop dinner, those sandals that can keep up with you, and hang some string lights to give your patio a glow up. Spring's calling. Ross, work your magic.
Speaker 1:So everyone has been talking about this show members only Palm Beach
Speaker 2:Oh god.
Speaker 1:On Netflix, which, grandma, you haven't watched yet.
Speaker 2:No, but I saw another review this morning. They were talking about it.
Speaker 1:Oh getting my buzzed sure.
Speaker 2:It certainly is, but nothing good. Nobody has liked it. I have
Speaker 1:never I watched the whole
Speaker 2:thing. Oh, you watch it. I wouldn't even put it on. But I listened to some girl this morning that she blasted it so terribly. I don't think I would even wanna put it on.
Speaker 1:Here's the issue that people are having. They're saying that all of these women are saying we're the we are the queen of Palm Beach and acting like everybody knows who they are, etcetera. But the show is not filmed in Palm Beach. First of you can't have cameras on the island. So they are
Speaker 2:None of these people are
Speaker 1:from the island. One is living in West Palm and I think the maybe one is living on the island. I'm not sure, but mostly living in other parts of Florida, North Of Palm Beach, even like further south, I think.
Speaker 3:Which at the end of the day, like,
Speaker 1:who cares? Like Northwest, whatever. And they're to represent they're trying
Speaker 2:to represent a lifestyle, which is really not consistent with the Palm Beach lifestyle. It's just
Speaker 1:It just feels fake in that. Like, I almost wish they didn't say Palm Beach. I don't even blame the women as much as I kind of blame, like, producers or something because, like, they are making they're showing shots of Worth Avenue, and then they're showing the girl's house. Like, they're all sitting there, and they're trying to, like, trick us that it's being there, but it's not there. So that's what's bothering me.
Speaker 1:Like, I don't care where
Speaker 2:it is. Most people and I'm I'm just gonna say this. I'm not sure if it's true or not. I'm gonna shoot this ad. I don't think most people are watching the show really know what Palm Beach is.
Speaker 2:So they take it for a reality that's really true. Yeah. It really isn't a true. But are there enough people now
Speaker 1:by it.
Speaker 2:Who are getting bothered and now are speaking out against it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But the thing is, and I think Bethany Frankel said this that I saw, she was like, yeah. The people who are getting so bothered by it being like, well, I'm a real Palm Beacher and these ladies aren't Palm Beachers. Like, they look pathetic too because who cares? Who cares?
Speaker 1:Like, but at the same time, I do kind of understand, like, it's all dramatic. And a lot
Speaker 2:of and and they look terrible. I
Speaker 1:don't know. That's bad, honestly.
Speaker 2:I I just have seen the clips of them. They need major help having facelift. They No. They all had facelifts. And too much silicone and too much puffiness.
Speaker 2:I never saw they really used That is odd. It's hard to was a little embarrassing.
Speaker 1:I know. It's kind of awkward that they're all like that too. Like, did they cast
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 1:The whole cast like that
Speaker 2:pretty much? I have no idea.
Speaker 1:It's a little confusing, but But meanwhile, everybody's talking about it. Yeah. So maybe And it
Speaker 2:was like top 10 on Netflix. So that's maybe the whole the producer had a concept. That's We're
Speaker 1:just not getting it. Maybe. And it's almost kind of also sad because these women, they're like, there's a Rolodex and and you wanna, like, be invited to Mar A Lago and you have to follow these rules. And then they, like, all shame this one woman Oh my god. For, like, not following the rules.
Speaker 1:And she's probably, like, normal the most normal of the group. And it's kind of that doesn't actually exist anymore. Right?
Speaker 2:Well, it might it might exist, but we don't see it. So, you know what? I think it's it's a meme girls.
Speaker 1:They pass the baton, and they wear a tiara as if they are if that as if there is a real queen.
Speaker 2:Well, there was only one queen, and that was Marjorie Weather Post. So she's long gone.
Speaker 1:But maybe she passed it to this woman. No.
Speaker 2:She did not pass it to this woman. How do you know? There was no way she's dead. I would say about sixty years. And she did have a, Dina Merrill was her daughter and who is, was the most beautiful woman and nobody, nobody was passed a baton.
Speaker 2:I don't think there's anybody who's the grand dame anymore. So that that really it's silly. It's lot of name dropping too. Oh, really? Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm not watching it, so I don't know.
Speaker 1:I know. Well, it's not up your alley. You don't watch reality No. I don't. TV.
Speaker 1:I My life is a reality with you. Because I spent so much time in Palm Beach, it was kinda interesting just to, like, watch and see what they would say and do. But I get why it's not for everyone. And it's a little tone deaf for sure. Like, that their biggest goal in life is to be the queen of Palm Beach.
Speaker 1:Like, what does that mean?
Speaker 2:Nothing.
Speaker 1:But entertaining. So I would watch a season two.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. After you just bad mouth the whole season Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay. Let's do the drama club. Do we have to talk about Alex Earl and Tom Brady?
Speaker 2:Well, you know what? They really were just in the same place. She rubbed his back. Oh, big deal. Agree.
Speaker 2:Was a bug on his back. Who
Speaker 1:even knows what the Well, she's a friendly, warm, touchy person.
Speaker 2:And she got a lot of PR. She's a brilliant person on getting PR.
Speaker 1:If she wanted that. I don't know how purposeful it is. Like, it could have been incredibly intentional, or it could have just been how
Speaker 2:she is.
Speaker 1:Of hand. Right? I mean, Tom Brady and Braxton Berrios, her ex, played for the same team. Oh. At some point
Speaker 2:Maybe she knew him. I mean, maybe that's the whole answer. And she was they were just having a chat. Maybe.
Speaker 1:Whatever it is, you got a lot of-
Speaker 2:I think everybody has to get over it. Who
Speaker 1:cares? We think the age gap's fine.
Speaker 2:Well, they're not getting married. Yeah. I mean, they're not getting married. I mean, he has a million women and she'll have a million guys. I don't think they were just having fun.
Speaker 2:They were in Miami. You know what? Everybody- But
Speaker 1:they were in St. Bart's.
Speaker 2:Oh, they were in St. Bart's? I thought it was in Miami. All right. Well, wherever they were, they were having a good time drinking.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's St. Bart's, every celebrity was in St. Bart's.
Speaker 2:And they couldn't get out because of the invasion and they couldn't all the planes got stuck and they wouldn't let private planes leave. They wouldn't let public planes Private
Speaker 1:planes people to say, I'm stuck in Saint
Speaker 2:Bart's. Right. There could be worse places.
Speaker 1:There could be worse. Also, you're not like, whatever. You pay one more night for the hotel.
Speaker 2:You're not stuck. I think that's in Saint Barton's, but there were other people in The Caribbean with their family.
Speaker 1:Oh, for sure.
Speaker 2:You know? And they were literally stuck and they couldn't they couldn't Whatever. Be One day. They're not stuck. And the weather was beautiful, so it's not being in the most horrible places in the world.
Speaker 2:But if you had to get back to school and get back to your job on Monday, it's a big, big pain in the neck.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Also, Timothy Chalamet won this people's choice
Speaker 2:award. Saw that. So that
Speaker 1:means kept he's saying
Speaker 2:So I think he's going yes. I think he's gonna get the Academy Award. They seem to be
Speaker 1:saying I saw the movie. Oh, you did? Did you like it? Really liked it.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:It's like one of those fail. Well, it's Josh Safdie. So like in all of his films, feel like it's like so anxiety producing that you're kind of on the edge of your seat like, oh my god. You're like stressed for them the whole time because it's just constant insanity. I don't want to give anything away.
Speaker 1:It's definitely like wild and he is incredible. Like if anything, I think I don't know how many awards the film will win. I think Timmy will win.
Speaker 2:Okay. Know, definitely.
Speaker 1:He disappeared. Like, I believed that he was this person who was, like, an awful person, this ping pong player. Okay. Really bad.
Speaker 2:Is that a true story?
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's based on this real guy. Okay. Like, I think he's alive still. Alright.
Speaker 1:He was a ping pong player. And it's set in the fifties when it was like an upcoming sport.
Speaker 2:Well, it was a very big deal between and and China too. I remember even in the sixties and seventies, there's tremendous rivalry for ping pong. That's a very big sport in Asia.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Exactly. So We all played ping pong when
Speaker 2:we had kids. We all had ping pong tables in our base.
Speaker 1:But they he took it very seriously.
Speaker 2:Right. Well, he's not playing in our basement. No. But but I'm saying we it was a it was a popular thing and you could play pack you know, it was an easy game to play with different ages and it was fun.
Speaker 1:Also, like, Gwyneth is so good. I forgot how good she is as an actress. And, like, she should I mean, obviously, has goop and all the things, but I also watched
Speaker 2:But she didn't win any of
Speaker 1:the awards for that For People's Awards? Yeah. I have no idea.
Speaker 2:No. I think he was the only one that won it in the film
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:For that film. Interesting.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I think I'd have to look it up. I didn't watch the People's Choice Awards. I don't even know where to watch that.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think it was on television. It was on the on the national channels. On something.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But I love that he thanked Kylie. He didn't say
Speaker 2:That was very sweet.
Speaker 1:I said Jenner, but he said, thanks to my partner of three years. Yes. Which, by the way, I didn't know it's been three years.
Speaker 2:Well
Speaker 1:I feel like they only went public more recently.
Speaker 2:Well, they might have gone public, but they might have been together.
Speaker 1:And that's so crazy that, like, I still don't believe it, but it's clearly real. She's clearly sitting in the audience watching him. Right. So crazy celebrity couple people. Right.
Speaker 1:Okay. Also, I have to just mention stranger things because it's been my entire life and feed that it's over. And the finale was insane and it's getting very mixed reception because they kinda tied it up in a bow. And I like when the finales have like happy Hanging. And Everybody's hanging.
Speaker 1:So you No, it wasn't a Oh, wasn't a hanger. They like really tied it up.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Like, I like that we got to see where each character like, evolved and how they and they left some things open ended, especially about
Speaker 2:Well, I think they wanna have another season.
Speaker 1:Well, have no. No. No. This is end. And with the end of stranger things, but they are going to do a slew of spin offs.
Speaker 1:Alright. And the world is definitely gonna expand and that's not over. But this this world of stranger things Is not is over. Over.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And everyone said January 7, which is the day we're recording today. Something was supposed to happen. Like, they think like a new finale was gonna come out because no one was happy about the finale, but I don't think so. They I did see a trailer.
Speaker 2:Seinfeld. Nobody was happy with the ending. Right. You know, sometimes the show is so wonderful and so different that no matter what the ending it is, people are dissatisfied. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You expect more. Expect more. And that's not fair either because what are you what are
Speaker 1:you gonna have? I mean, the That said, with this show that was, like, insane world building and, like, so many different, like, elements and, like, that added up and Easter eggs and whatever that, like, how did they not think through some of the plot holes? Like the plot holes were really deep. Okay. So I don't know.
Speaker 1:But the only thing I saw this morning is they posted a trailer that like sort of showed I think which Joyce in a new young Joyce in a new series. So
Speaker 2:Good. So they'll all have careers. They'll all have wonderful careers. They'll all go off on their own and Well, one that
Speaker 1:was Winona Ryder's character. This is a and this But they'll
Speaker 2:all have shows. They're all very talented actors.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah. I'm not worried about any of them getting they're gonna be very coveted. So, yeah, that's my stranger things thoughts. Ask grandma anything. Let's go through a few of the questions people wrote in.
Speaker 1:Someone said, what to get my boyfriend for our first Valentine's Day together? I guess Valentine's is kinda coming up. Oh, it's
Speaker 2:a month away, more than a month away. But if you wanna put think about it, I don't know. You have to see what his hobbies are or what he likes the most. You know, if he's a golfer, then maybe a dozen golf balls. Or if he's a tennis player, maybe a new something accessory in the sport that he doesn't have.
Speaker 2:You know what? It's very hard to buy guys gifts because everybody has a very particular way of dressing. But if you know them well enough and you are the boy girlfriend, you know, figure something out that you know will go along. Don't do something different that you like. Do something that he you know he would like.
Speaker 2:That would be a good gift. Or just dinner together is always fun.
Speaker 1:I was gonna say, I feel like Valentine's lends well to, like, experience gifts. Like, rather than saying I feel like a birthday is more like, here's the bag you've been wanting versus a Valentine's. I feel like being like, oh, I bought us concert tickets to do together, spa day to do together, dinner at a nice place or whatever. Like, I I kind of like the joint gift.
Speaker 2:Okay. That sounds good.
Speaker 1:I don't know. How did Poppy propose to grandma?
Speaker 2:He proposed on my birthday, and that was it. And we got married three months later. That was it really was not a long term thing. I had just turned 21 and we got married. That was at the end of April, and I got married in September.
Speaker 2:It was it was fun. We went to see a show. We were at the which is no longer existing either, the Americana Hotel on
Speaker 1:Wait. That wasn't your engagement. That's how you met.
Speaker 2:No. That's how we got engaged. You saw a show? We went to a separate yeah.
Speaker 1:That's also how you met. I mean, how your first date.
Speaker 2:No. No. Wasn't our first date going to theater. I think it was, the second or third.
Speaker 1:Okay. Sorry. Second or third date was the same as the engagement date?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I don't even remember. We saw somebody live. I have no idea.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I mean, I didn't make a big deal about it. It was fine. Somebody else was getting engaged that I knew. We were all 21. We were all seniors in college.
Speaker 2:We all got engaged at the same time. And a lot of us got married within the same few months.
Speaker 1:Someone wrote, never been to Palm Beach, and I have a work cocktail party next week at a home. What do I wear?
Speaker 2:Well, I would say, I don't know what business you're in, but if you're in the certainly something flowy and long if you're a woman. And if you're a guy, jacket, no tie.
Speaker 1:Color, right? Like, you're not gonna wear black in Palm Beach.
Speaker 2:Well, you could. They wear black at night, but this time of the year, the weather is beautiful, you can certainly wear a tropical color.
Speaker 1:And bring a little cardigan A wrap
Speaker 2:or something. Because it always can be cool. The breezes blow from the water and it could be cool
Speaker 1:at night. Or even like a linen blazer.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Any of those things. It's summertime wear because it is basically in the high seventies, low eighties, and it gets to be, you know, really at night. It's not it's not humid right now, but it does get warm. It it stays warm during the evening.
Speaker 1:Okay. If you're 69 and not happy in a relationship, is it too late to leave?
Speaker 2:Oh, it's never too late, but it could be very traumatic. I don't know where you know, if you're not people are not happy. Know, we discuss this all the time. Is it you're not happy in the relationship or you're not happy with yourself? Those are two very different things and you better think about it.
Speaker 2:If, if the relationship is not making you have, an enjoyable time of it, most of the time, nobody's happy a 100% of the time. And if you haven't developed things that you enjoy doing together, it's very, it's difficult, but very often you're dissatisfied with you and maybe your children have grown and you are now faced with the fact that you're with one person all the time and you really need to get other hobbies so you can fill the time and not, you know, there's a void. It's difficult. I would say it's difficult. Think it through and maybe talk to somebody and see what's really behind this unhappiness.
Speaker 1:Also rely on family and friends if you do have to go through that.
Speaker 2:Well, you have to go through it, but before she goes through it, better or he, you better talk to somebody professionally and really find out what's really behind it.
Speaker 1:Okay. Let's do Grandma Gail's voicemail. Someone wrote in an email. Hi, Kim and Grandma Gail. I love your podcast.
Speaker 1:You have such warm and uplifting vibes. Also love listening to two proud Jewish woman as one myself. I'm not sure if this is the right place to connect, but I have a question to be answered on the podcast. My first wedding anniversary is early February, and I'm really struggling with what to get for my husband. Do I go the sentimental or luxury gift route?
Speaker 1:I want it to be memorable gift, and I'm wondering if materialism will distract from that. Thanks, and happy New Year. Happy New Year.
Speaker 2:I don't know. You know, I think the first anniversary is paper. I don't know what it you know, they used to have there's a chart that tells you what each year should be. You know, I I think don't stress. It's a wonderful time.
Speaker 2:You're still very much a newlywed. And maybe maybe like you do, Kim, plan a a nice dinner together with a a glass of wine or a glass of Prosecco or ginger ale and a lovely evening together quietly in a very pretty surrounding.
Speaker 1:I think you have to hand them something. Well, if you have
Speaker 2:to give somebody something, then you better again give somebody what they would like, not what you would like. So I don't know what this young man likes. You are living with him. Even if it doesn't have to be very costly. It could be an album of, of photographs that you've taken over the past year of you two together, which I think is great.
Speaker 2:And that he could keep or a picture, in a very nice frame that he could put on his desk or take with him to the office. Don't make more of it than it is. This is the beginning of a wonderful life together. Just do something that maybe is a little sentimental.
Speaker 1:Like, it's true. You you spend time together and, like, you know, obviously throughout the year, I something like I do when I've had to, like, buy my boyfriend gifts or honestly anyone in my life. Like, don't wait till the last minute like throughout the year if they mention something. I always like have one note in my phone that has like a list of things and I just note it down because otherwise I'll forget. Like if we happen to be walking by a window and he's like, oh, that's a nice shirt.
Speaker 1:I would like write it down or, you know, if like it's just something that's mentioned or an idea that pops into your head, write it down when you have it because even if it's in six months, it'll probably still be relevant. Okay. Good idea. Let's quickly do the grandma report. So there's this article that Vogue did that says that this is when we actually become adults.
Speaker 1:For a long time, it was believed that the prefrontal cortex, that part of our brain responsible for decision making and impulse control didn't fully develop until 25. Right. Which is like when you become an adult. But new research says 32. Like the adolescent phase lasts right up until 32 on average.
Speaker 1:It's not like suddenly you become smarter at that age or more logical. Stop. It means you get stuck in your ways at that time and you kind of just like coast. Do you have ways as we get older to get less stuck in our ways?
Speaker 2:No. I don't think there is any way of getting less stuck in your ways. But but that's just just normal because it's something you do day in and day out probably, and it's hard to break it. If, if you really don't like something you're doing, then I think you have to make a conscious effort to change it. But you know what?
Speaker 2:Once you develop certain habits, it's very hard to break it. And unless it bothers your partner or it bothers you terribly, don't worry about it. It's your personality. When it becomes annoying to other people, then you might have to work on yourself.
Speaker 1:You always have to work on yourself, I think, to some extent. But, yeah, it's kind of Well, I don't because I'm perfect. Okay. Well, maybe no one complains or to you about how you are or something. But I don't know.
Speaker 1:I like the idea of always being able to like better yourself. And I think it's kind of a nice feeling to be like, oh, I'm not 32 yet. I'm just a baby. I don't have to be an adult. But also, grandma's sighing.
Speaker 1:She's like, you're not a baby. But, apparently science says
Speaker 2:year old 32 year old's walking around thinking there's still a baby. That's what's wrong with society.
Speaker 1:I'm adolescent. This article just said I'm
Speaker 2:an adolescent. It's really pathetic. I think what's happened is we're actually causing adults to act like children because they're not assuming their own They're not taking on the responsibilities of society and themselves and their families I and their think they they are honestly immature and they're thinking and I think we've all done it to them. We've made this generation a very, very different type of, adult.
Speaker 1:Maybe you guys coddled us.
Speaker 2:I think we did. We made everybody had to be a winner. Everybody had to be perfect. Everybody had it was a lot of stereotypes that were ridiculous and we're reaping the the problems.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You don't wanna not support your children. You should feel like
Speaker 2:everybody's the best. Not everybody needs to get a medal. There's still there. There's, you know, not everybody is valedictorian of their class. So I think there has to
Speaker 1:be Well, the great pressure to be should be lowered.
Speaker 2:No, some people are always gonna be better than others. The world is not created to have one type of person. It would be terrible if everybody was brilliant. You need to have some people lower, some people medium, some people higher in their intellectual capacity. Not anyone is better.
Speaker 2:It's just different. Some people don't wanna, become a mathematician. Other people wanna be an artist. One is not worse or better than the other. It just makes society more, I think more interesting with different types and not everybody has to be the same.
Speaker 1:Excuse my grandma and keep on following and listening us. Please guys, if you can comment on the episode and let us know what kind of conversations you like having or which segments of ours you like the best, whether it's the grandma report when we talk about an article or the drama club when we talk about TV. Please let us know what you like hearing from us. And also comment what your favorite guest was or topic was from 2025. We'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1:Another great episode of Excuse My Grandma, and we'll see you soon. Bye.